Family trip out west
 

My family(2 parents, and a 19 and 16 year old young adults) is planning a trip out west in late July 2017 for 14 days. We will start in Denver and travel in a Class C RV to Las Vegas stopping in SD, WY, Yellowstone Park, UT and Grand Canyon before ending in Las Vegas. This will be our first time traveling in an RV. WOuld love some advise on how to optimize our RV travels..,do's/don'ts and campsite advice.

Do you really like to be rolling practically all the time? The immense geographic area you wish to cover in such a short time will require being on the road practically nonstop, with hardly any time to set up and enjoy life in one place or the other.

Have you really mapped that out, with the required conservative time estimates for your kind of vehicle? Allowing time for maintenance, emptying and filling tanks, finding and doing hookups etc., not to mention trivial chores like shopping?

And - most importantly - you'll have hardly any time for getting out and about to see what you came to see in all those places.

Be careful on long steep hills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z57zQNujPyY

Vaga

"And - most importantly - you'll have hardly any time for getting out and about to see what you came to see in all those places."

Completely agree. With 14 days out of Las Vegas, consider making a loop to include the Grand Canyon and the parks of Southern Utah. If you are set on starting in Denver I would recommend a few days in Rocky Mountain National Park before a long, full day drive to the Yellowstone/Grand Tetons areas. There is MORE than enough to fill your time in Rocky Mountain/Yellowstone before returning to Denver.

I agree with the other posters.

You also need to look at the costs the RV will involve, most restrict the mileage and/or charge a lot if you go more than a couple of hundred miles per day. You also need to figure the cost of gas and fees to camp. Reservations will be needed in most of the NPs. Often there is a very large drop fee if you do not return to the place you started.

If you want a camping experience, consider picking up a tent and sleeping bags, pads etc. and rent a car.

I love Yellowstone, but at least a full day will be spent getting there and another getting back.

You really need to check out if campgrounds are available where and when you want. In Yellowstone we stayed in a cabin and met some peoplevwho were already making their reservation for the following year. We made our reservations at several national parks in Feb. for early June and were lucky to get places. I imagine that late July is the peak time.

I don't imagine that you can just pull off the side of the road and stay the night as we have done in Alaska ( tho not in a NP )